Solitaire
by FerrumVigro
Summary: "When one's head's in the clouds, one's heart gets wet."-Alice, amongst the clouds and cards, feels small again, in more than one sense of the word.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing belonging to the AMA/AMR world, I'm just a gamer who loved it so much I had to do something about it._

_A/N: This is just a one-shot little fic-let. I completely loved the __**Card-Bridge, **__I've replayed that one little level so many times just so I can watch the sky and cards fly about whilst listening to the lovely, haunting music…Its was just so very…Wonderland, I guess…There and __**Tundraful, **__In both there were points I just had Alice stand there while I stared at the moon and around me…I really enjoyed the game…By the way, the title-**Solitaire**-is a play on Solitude, as in a state of being alone and of course the one person card game Solitaire which is found on most computers X3 And the Summary is a in-game quote...Likely made by the Cat... that I felt suited this._

_This is unbeta-ed so I apologize for any mistakes you may find._

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><p><em>There had been brightness; a heavenly light, alien to the dull, darkened, streets of London. It'd consumed her vision, blindingly painful to her eyes causing her to slam them shut as a high pitched ringing deafened her hears. And then…<em>

She is falling, forever falling it seems, with her eyes remaining tightly shut, her lashes touching her cheeks, she could feeling the wind pull at her hair and dress; light fingers brushing her skin and entangling her dark locks.

She knows then as through someone has just whispered it in her ear.

She has fallen down the rabbit hole again, trailing her way back to Wonderland.

Less and less time, she realises, is spent within _Reality_, and the winds of Wonderland forever seemed pleased to greet her with its caresses.

Feeling the pull ease, she relaxes as the wind catches her and slows her fall, guiding her along its waves and currents, pulling her to where she needs to be.

She wonders and ponders this thought, she thinks of where in all of Wonderland she will fall, where will the twisting, broken paths of the her mind lead in the darken ruin it had become.

When her feet touch solid ground, she is more than a little hesitant to open her eyes. With them closed her other senses heighten; she can still feel the wind running through her hair, whispering in her ear, it ruffles her dress and its ribbons almost lovingly-_and she pushes the thought away yet it returns-_but its almost peaceful. How could Wonderland ever be at peace when her memories were shattering and that Infernal Train was destroying everything it touched…

Behind closed eyelids, the brightness remains yet it brings no pain or ringing.

There is no noise other than the wind blowing, the swaying of her dress in the breeze.

She opens her eyes to brightness and it takes a few moments for her to regain her vision. When she does, she looks upon the place she has fallen and lets a small grateful smile escape; she cannot help but feel small again, as though she is young and innocent and for the first time opening her eyes to the marvel beauty of Wonderland. This was her Wonderland, the untouched innocent beauty of her mind.

There is sky, a clear jade abyss, shining with bright sunlight, pure and glorious in its simplicity, it is home to colossal clouds of purest silk, white and light, drifting in the gentle breeze. And then there is the always present flicker of Wonderland, the slap in the face for logic; she is standing on a small bridge of Playing Cards, the bold print displaying her feet to be resting in a Two-of-clubs. The rest of the deck are above, dancing with the wind, swimming within the currents in flocks, like birds, each one following the next. By taking all this in it takes her more than a few moments to realise she too is home within the sky, miles upon miles above the ground, Wonderland below is nothing but a blur of colour hidden between the clouds.

She smiles and lowering to her hands and knees, she crawls to the edge of her enlarged playing card. Looking down at the world below through the partings in the clouds there is not much to be seen, no corruption or blackened Ruin covering the land, there is no sign of the Train. The wind whispers through her hair, the sun is pleasantly warm on her back, comforting her, telling her that nothing can touch her here. Not yet.

Returning to her feet, she steps forward to another Two-of-clubs and sees the fleeting movement of cards in the distance; a large tower of cards grows from where nothing existed before and it remains unmoving in the wind. Her father had once tried to make one with her, he had set the deck out, showed her the best shape for a solid formation, gently easing the cards up on their edges, top tips touching; he had only managed to build three levels before Dinah had jumped on the table and caused the whole structure to collapse.

This tower, however, defied logic, it should not be standing. But then, how could it defy something that did not exist in Wonderland; it was not _standing _but floating and it would not collapse, not by her weight or any other.

Knowing now where she had to go, she stepped onto the next card, a Five-of-clubs, and felt a flare of joy when another card sloped down from the air to take its place on the bridge ahead of her. With the confidence that the cards would not let her fall, her steps increased in security and she had to hold back the urge to break into a run and fleet across the sky. Watching the cards zoom gracefully around her, it felt oddly discomforting, they reminded her of the Queens Guards…

Oh.

"Of course," she thought disconnectedly, following the bridge as it formed below her feet.

It was as though she were reading a book, her very steps were but words printed in black bold ink on wafer-thin pages. She knew where she was heading, where the Card-Bridge would lead and to whom. She could not change the words on the next page no matter how badly she wanted to.

Yet even with these thoughts in mind, she could not help but push in all aside for the beauty and peace that held her above the world. She hadn't felt this peaceful for quite a long time…she was just content to follow the swiftly appearing path that formed as she took each step and let her mind feel at ease.

She was free, swiftly walking through the clouds, being pulled and guided amidst the winds of Wonderland, the cards, the Jack's and Aces and all their numbers swimming elegantly around her; it was easy to forget for a while, that her world, this world, was shattering below.

Finally, upon reaching the great tower, its doors greeted her as an old friend and drifted open, welcoming her inside, the Jack-of-Diamonds' flat face watching her enter. Stepping inside, the cards closed and she had no choice but the continue onwards, wandering through the faces of hearts and spades, halls of Kings and Queens, she was struck with the thought of whether the cards were enlarged or was it she who had shrunk further.

Through the small gaps where the cards joint, the outside could be seen. She preferred it outside with the wind in her hair.

Upon feeling the breeze teasing her cheeks, she found herself at a pair of open cards, giving way to the sky; in the distance, another tower grew out of nothingness, bidding her to enter and yet…yet she found herself reluctant to do so.

She found a ledge to the right of the exit, a place where she could see the clear sky with its clouds of silk and pure light. It was here were she crawled to all-fours once more and made her way to the edge. Once near, she turned and sat upon the card, her legs swung over the edge. She set the Vorpal Blade to the side and rested her hands under her knees, preventing the thin, shape edge of the card from slicing her skin.

It would be so very easy to just remain here forever, above the clouds with the wind and sun, watching over Wonderland, where no one or anything could reach her.

_Lizzie would had loved it here…_

Her thoughts seemed to slowly stop then and for a moment, she just simply _was_. Just nothing more or less than Alice within her Wonderland.

Time had been murdered long ago by a certain Hatter, so perhaps, she had the Time to just simply _be _for a moment, hidden amongst the drifting clouds and dancing cards.

She remained there until the sun dimmed and the wind touched her back, reminding her she had to move on. Queensland awaited her.

She still smiled though, when she rose, as the card flew around her toes.

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><p>A Review would make me grin <em>-Heed the Cat-<em>


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